The year in movies

Movie years are like wine vintages. Some years produce classics. And some are corked.

But what do we make of the cinema, vintage 2007?

Not epic. Not great, even. Some bouquet from the spring lingers. And it finished well.

It was a pretty good year to get back into going to the movies, which we did (box office was up). But where were the women, on screen and in the seats?

A scattering of stellar pictures opened, just not a lot of stuff that took anybody's breath away. Movie buffs found themselves groping for comparisons, looking for this year's Little Miss Sunshine , My Big Fat Greek Wedding or the next Lord of the Rings -sized franchise.

We didn't find it.

It was the year of Judd Apatow, as the 40-Year-Old Virgin creator had his hands on Knocked Up, Superbad and Walk Hard, all similarly raunchy, and -- if Walk Hard scores -- all will have been hits. Heartbreak Kid's failure signals a real comic changing of the guard, with the once-edgy and raunchy Farrelly Brothers fading.

Torture porn ran its course, though smarter horror movies such as 1408 and The Orphanage (opening today) can't chase the Saws or Halloweens off fast enough.

There were good-to-great musicals, and none, from Hairspray and Once to Across the Universe to Sweeney Todd, could be called "traditional." And we had an embarrassment of great documentaries, but none save Sicko really found an audience. If you missed Operation Homecoming, No End in Sight or In the Shadow of the Moon, you shouldn't have.

The animation glut continued, but Surf's Up and Bee Movie were fun. Ratatouille was watchable.

Too much fantasy. I liked Stardust, thought The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising was kid-friendly, and appreciated The Golden Compass for its ambition. But the latest Harry Potter drove home the point that "that old black magic" is mainly just old.

Too much "War on Terror." Rendition, Lions for Lambs, The Kingdom, so many Middle Eastern movies, all earnest, most good, but nobody went.

Breakouts? Expect great things out of Taraji P. Henson (Talk to Me). James Marsden is riding Hairspray and Enchanted to stardom. Michael Cera (Superbad, Juno) has a promising career, at least until his voice changes.

Best casting? Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd, a role he was born to play.

Most overrated by me -- The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, The Simpsons Movie. I blame Spider Pig.

Underrated? Bee Movie, Stardust, Across the Universe.

And the best movies? Well, read on, movie-lover:

10. Hairspray. I pity anybody who didn't let themselves enjoy this one. Bubbly in all the right ways. I even enjoyed John Travolta as Edna Turnblad. It's a movie that mocks racism, winks at sex, has a great beat and is easy to dance to. Michelle Pfeiffer scores as the racist, ruthless, sexually predatory TV programmer who hates anybody who isn't beautiful, thin and whiter-than-white in 1960s Baltimore.

9. The Kite Runner. Afghanistan of today and 30 years ago is the most vivid ingredient to this magical if hard-edged story of guilt, shame and atonement. The Kabul-before-and-after-the-Taliban contrasts are a blunt picture of Islamo-fascism.

8. Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience. The best of the almost too many Iraq war docs is this one. It uses a variety of filmmaking styles, from dramatic re-creations to narrated documentary footage to animation, to capture the boots-on-the-ground experience of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Based on active-duty soldiers' writings about combat. Riveting.

7. Juno. Snappy, sassy, sweet, good-hearted and romantic, this is built around winning turns not just by 20-year-old star Ellen Page in the title role but by Jennifer Garner, wonderfully touching as the woman who so wants to adopt the title character's baby. J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney are terrific as Juno's parents, and Jason Bateman is quietly disquieting as the adoptive dad who isn't sure he's ready for it.

6. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Unlike almost any movie I've seen this year, or in recent years, a first-person internal-monologue account of life trapped in a stroke-paralyzed body. It's not the acting that makes this true story so compelling. It's the writing and the artistic, perfectly executed cinematography by Janusz Kaminski and direction by Julian Schnabel.

5. Zodiac. A wholly absorbing crime mystery benefiting from a dazzling, showy turn by Robert Downey Jr. as a reporter, and the usual solid, ultra-realistic work from Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo, all on the trail of an infamous serial killer. David Fincher's best movie ever.

4. No Country for Old Men. Javier Bardem is pure, amoral evil; Josh Brolin is the ethical, fast-learning good ol'boy who has just crossed the line. The bad-guy-strangles-a-deputy scene is as harrowing as anything I've seen this year. But the old men, Tommy Lee Jones and Barry Corbin, in supporting roles, are the ones who lay it all out for us and give No Country the aftertaste of a classic.

3. Atonement. A modern romance with all the resonance, comic snap and tragic longing of the great screen romances. Keira Knightley and James McAvoy are perfectly cast as the leads; Joe Wright grows into being an epic director.

2. Once. An Irish street busker's musical that cost about $62 U.S. and yet magically captures new love through songs that will break your heart. The most realistic musical ever is also the best indie film of the year. It leaves you longing for what might have been, much like that great love, "the one that got away." Perfect.

1. Into the Wild. A bravura, wholly committed lead performance by Emile Hirsch; touching, nuanced supporting performances by Catherine Keener, Hal Holbrook, Kristen Stewart, Brian Dierker, Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt and Vince Vaughn; passionate, sure-handed directing with a light touch by Sean Penn; all teamed to tell a moving, inspiring and whimsical story of living off the grid on a journey of self-discovery in the wilderness. A modern American epic. Glorious.